Saturday, September 23, 2006

I was just going to go with "Open Thread", since I had a couple things to comment on, and since, after hours of working on the blog template, my brain is kind of fried. But after reading some of the posts at puddle's blog, I really felt like I needed a more meaningful title. Or nothing at all. I finally went with "Thread", because it is short and simple, but evokes, for me, anyway, the delicate, invisible strands that mysteriously connect us to each other.

Anyway, please do check out pyzch to see puddle's new posts about Edwin.

Because so many people have reported having trouble getting this blog to load properly, I started trying to tweak it, and eventually found myself working on a complete template overhaul. I'm working on it over at the old site, trying to make sure I work out any bugs before I transfer the new template over here.

What follows is a transcript of part of the Fair Elections panel, which was the last panel of a very full morning, and why Cliff mentions wanting to "move things along"...

Cliff Arnebeck: We have a dynamite panel here, and we're going to do this in a Q and A format in order to move this along. First I'm going to introduce Bob Fitrakis. Bob is the editor and publisher of the Free Press, a leading internet publication in the world, right Bob? (loud applause and cheers, drowning out the beginning of the next sentence) ...at the cutting edge of real time reporting on the theft of the 2004 election. Bob Fitrakis is a professor of Political Science at Columbus State Community College. Bob Fitrakis is the author of numerous books and the winner of numerous awards for outstanding independent investigative journalism.

Bob, I'm going to ask you a couple questions. Was the 2004 presidential election in Ohio stolen?

Bob Fitrakis: Yes it was. It was a combination of old-fashioned thuggery and high-tech Tammany. It was stolen blatantly. Three percent of those people who voted, disporportionately in the inner city, the urban areas, their vote was never counted. And I'm also very suspicious of the 131% voter turnout in --Ohio on election eve, and the two counties (sic) in Perry County that reported 124% and 120%.

And just recently this summer I went to Miami County, and I said "I don't believe that 98.55% of all the people in South Concord voted." And right before I went in to look at the poll books, the director Steve Kuhn said, "You're right, it was only 79%. But it really didn't affect the election." But taken as a whole, the 308,000 voters, overwhelmingly African American, who were purged--what they were doing is purging 29.3% of all the voters in Cleveland, who voted 83% for Kerry, while in Miami County, where only 2% were African American, they not only were not purging, they were merging. They were allowing voters from other counties to vote. That is on the record--they stole that election.

Cliff Arnebeck: Now bob, when you express the opinion that the election in 2004 was stolen in Ohio for the presidency, are you doing so as a political science professor *and* as an attorney?

Bob Fitrakis: I'm doing that--the White House, and Karl Rove, as you well know, is contemptuous of "fact-based reality". I have a PhD in political science and I have a J.D. of law. I am *trained* to look at evidence. The evidence says that Karl Rove and the White House *deliberately suppressed* the African American vote, the poor vote, the Democratic vote, *and* allowed an inflated vote in the Republican, White areas of this state. And that the machines were hidden, in Columbus. When you're voting in 15 minutes in the White affluent suburban Republican areas but you had to wait 4 to 7 hours in the inner city in Columbus (loud shouts and cheers)...voter theft.

Cliff Arnebeck: Dr. Fitrakis, did you have occasion to interact with Robert Kennedy Jr., the son of the former United States Attorney General who was assassinated for fear that he might become President of the United States. Did you have that opportunity?

Bob Fitrakis: Well, there are a great many heroes. The Reverend Jesse Jackson, who is there in the back, is the man who really brought this to national attention. (thunderous applause and cheers)--he is the man responsible...Thank you Jesse Jackson!

And some time *after* that, I talked to Bobby Kennedy. He was given a copy of the book. He looked at it--he originally had been skeptical, but Harvey Wasserman, my writer/partner at the Free Press said, "Take a look at this evidence." Bobby Kennedy did. He wrote a book review, and was turned down, and then he contacted Rolling Stone, and in one of the longest articles in Rolling Stone history, twelve pages, with over 200 footnotes, Bobby Kennedy and I spent four months vetting that article. And the agreement was this--any time you see a Free Press reference, I can show you a mainstream publication that picked that up. The Toledo Blade, The Columbus Dispatch--what they didn't do is apparently they don't read each other's newspapers, so what happened is Bobby Kennedy has opened up this issue.

You may have seen on Friday, on the front page of the Metro section of the Washington Post, because the machines melted down in Maryland, as we predicted in this audience that it would. And Princeton is now on our side. The General Accountability Office, those two radicals James Baker and Jimmy Carter have said "Why would you trust partisan insiders in this field, when you don't trust them with slot machines, you don't trust them with the gasoline pumps? We have Princeton, we have Stanford, we have Johns Hopkins, we've got Carter and Baker, we've got the General Accountability Office. No partisan corporation should be privately counting our ballots with proprietary software. (More loud applause and cheers.) That is absolutely unacceptable! And Bobby Kennedy put this issue back into play.

I just got an e-mail from the Let Justice Roll campaign, which reminds me that I still need to post something about the Rainbow PUSH event I attended this past Monday. Hopefully I will get the chance to write something this weekend, but in the meantime, please check out the site.

Three weeks ago, a phone call changed my life forever. In so many ways. That night, I stepped off a cliff.

There has been fear, there has been sorrow, there has been anguish and anger, there have been moments of peace, and even, too briefly, moments of joy. And pain. And hope. And despair.

Throughout it all, you were there, in every imaginable way. Posts of encouragement (Thankful read me much of the blog during breaks), songs, hearts, love, news, planning, donations, poetry. I have been and am now buoyed up on the wings of your love, expressed in so many concrete ways: time, money, words, thoughtfulness.

Edwin loved and trusted this community, this group of amazing souls drawn together to act by Howard Dean. He was right to do so, you failed him in no way. You have risen even above his highest expectations of you. You *do* have the power, you have used the power, and will yet use it. No matter what happens this year, or next, or the one after that, you have won. And will win. Because you, in and of yourselves, have acted. In love. And with unimaginable caring and creativity. The world can never, will never, be the same.

I can't name names, there have been too many; I expect there will be more. It will take me years to process, to seek out, to discover the dimensions of this web that Howard created with a few simple internet tools. But I know the beginnings start in each of your hearts, and expands to each of those hearts acting in some way for the good of others.

Thank you is too small a phrase to even begin to express what I feel. But there is no other. Thank you for being who you are, for doing what you do, and for the hope.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

One of the most foolish thing that one can do is to esteem your enemy lightly, to believe him to be a fool. It is then that your enemy can do you the most harm because you grossly underestimate him, thinking him incapable of doing you harm. Republicans would have you to believe that Hugo Chavez is some unhinged nutcase just spouting off at the mouth, but the truth of the matter is that the Venezuelean President is an uncanny politician and a shrewd tactician.

It is thus that I had to ask myself why it was that Hugo Chavez would go into Harlem - possibly the most Democratic district in America - and relentlessly berate the man who occupies the Oval Office. It's not that Chavez was incorrect in anything that he said (albeit slightly exaggerated), but surely Chavez knows the political calendar in America - it's election season and Bush's enablers are about to be routed in the midterm elections. Surely Chavez knows that by berating Bush on American soil he forces (some) Democrats to defend Bush. Surely Chavez knows that by defending Bush Democrats increase Bush's polling numbers, but if they failed to defend Bush then their own numbers would plummet. Surely Chavez knows that bolstering Bush's polling numbers or deep-sixing Democratic numbers will increase the chances of Bush's enablers maintaining their grasp on power. So why would Hugo Chavez knowingly help Bush to keep his majorities in Congress?

It serves both of their purposes.

Bush needs to keep a majority in the House just to stay out of jail - it's about that simple. John Conyers with subpeona power as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee? Bush needs to do whatever it takes to keep that from happening, even if it means dealing with one whom he himself considers to be a devil.

For Chavez, a neutered George W. Bush does him no good. Hugo Chavez is building up a ton of political capital internationally by being the one to stand up to George W. Bush. Nobody needs to ally themselves with Chavez if Bush is kept in check by a Democratic Congress, so it helps Chavez if Bush is free to do as only George W. Bush would dare to do when unrestrained by annoying things like the oversight of Congress or the limitations of the Constitution.

Both Bush and Chavez want an unrestrained George W. Bush - Bush on G.P., Chavez for his own political gain and, by extension, for the good of the Venezuelan people: if foreign countries take a liking to Chavez then economic cooperation won't be too-far behind for all of Venezuela, if for no other reason than to thumb their nose at the U.S. Chavez thinks that an unrestrained Bush poses no real threat to Venezuela since the U.S. military is bogged-down in Iraq and he's actually doing Bush a favor - giving Bush a local boogeyman to rile up Bush's base - but Chavez would be wise to learn from Saddam Hussein: when it comes to the Bushes, today's friend is tomorrow's leather slave.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

I've finished transcribing Rob Boston's talk to the central Ohio chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. You can find the complete transcript of the talk here. Below, you will find just a small portion of the talk (which ran about 45 minutes before the Q and A part started). Here is where Rob Boston speaks about the Ohio groups that have been cropping up, and what sort of worldview they aim to "restore".

Well, you know, you look at the agenda of these groups, and they use this word restoration--Ohio Restoration Project. What are they trying to restore? They would tell you they are trying to restore something the founding fathers came up with that was abandoned. But, they're not. Because we know the founding fathers advocated for the secular state. What they are trying to restore is a period, post-Civil War, what I call the "Christian nation" where a lot of the laws reflect conventional Christian doctrine. Sunday closing laws for businesses, censorship of books and the mail. If anything was deemed blasphemous, you couldn't put it in the mail. The post office would crack down on that material--a lot of freethought material was banned. And other types of religiously inspired laws inspired, not by what the founders gave us, but kind of an abberant period in our history, where we did, for a good number of years, drift away from the separation of church and state.

I recommend reading his whole talk--you might want to bookmark it and come back to it, as it is rather long. But there is a lot of good stuff in there, especially, as Rob alludes in this passage, about how the "Christian nation" is not at all what the founding fathers were going for.

I don't have much time to post at the moment, but wanted to let you know that the debate is beginning in just a few minutes, and there is a live feed here for anyone who would like to watch it. The topic of today's debate is education.

Tuesday evening, 9/19, Howard Dean will be taking questions LIVE on the Granholm campaign website. He will be taking questions on the G4G blog at 8:30PM. Feel free to submit questions in advance, or log on to the website tomorrow and post a question or comment. Governor Dean is coming to Michigan for the DNC Black Caucus's African American Summit this weekend. Spread the word!

A Tribute to Tonight's Show (The Colbert Report, Monday Sept. 18th, 2006)

WHAT HAVE THE ARABS EVER DONE FOR US?[A Reply to George Bush; With some apologies to Monty Python]

What have the Arabs ever done for us?

ZERO.

That's right. Zero. And that ain't nuthin'.

Without the Arabs we wouldn't have the memories and ancient classics of human thought; the wisdom of Socrates - put to death in a democracy so tainted with fear, for nothing more than having an idea; the warnings of falling prey to sophism - the art of making the weaker argument seem the stronger - destined to bring an unaware democracy to decline; the wisdom of Aristotle, with ethics and politics inseparable, he taught the theory of constitutions, their rise, their fall, and the causes of each.

Upon that foundation - the wisdom of prior ages preserved and passed on to us when our own had grown dark and bleak; when we had forgotten who we were and where we were going - Madison laid that of our nation. We had learned from the past the mortal disease to which popular governments had always fallen; and discovered through our reason therein the potential of a cure. Our Constitution now lays dormant, as if a dark age had once again befallen. Its form remains ... but an empty shell, a mere facade. Ideas were what informed it, infused it, gave it life - they were its substance, its sole. Who will remember them for us this time?

Yes, the Arabs gave us ZERO. But I'm not talking zip, nada, nuthin'.

They gave us that concept of a number that wasn't. And they preserved for us a dream of a world that wasn't but could be. They valued what we had forgotten. Ironic - they, appearing so different; yet to whom we are forever indebted for our "culture." They gave us concepts on which we built our economies, our technologies, our prosperity ... and preserved for us the idea of polities capable of nurturing and preserving our true happiness. If not for them would we have seen the light emerging from out of that dark age back then?

They gave us the dream of America: the recognition that we were not destined to be subjects to the interests of a ruling few; the belief in a practical striving for a common good; the recognition of our nature to progress - tomorrow can indeed be a better day; if, that is, we remember who we were and what we were striving to become. They gave us the America schools taught us to be proud of; the America that could lead by example without force. They saw ideas that transcended cultures, connected us as mankind, and enabled us to again value freedom, equality, justice and the common good. That dream remains a possibility. But we have gotten lost along the way. In pursuit of our individual "American dreams" we have lost that which united us, that which could unite all, that which made us more than a nation, but a hopeful experiment for all mankind. They remembered this for us then when we had forgotten; who will remember for us today?

You may think the Arabs gave us nothing; that we have no common dreams; no indebtedness; no bond. That we are an "us" and they are a "them" and that is what we are destined to remain. But you, my friend, have forgotten, somewhere along the way, who you actually are - and more importantly - could be.

Demetrius did the spiffy banner in honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day, so having decorated for the holidays (a high holy day in the Pastafarian religion, as I recall) I wasn't planning on dedicating a whole thread to it. Lots of links about TLAPD on my page here. Also, I did a Squidoo lens, and thar be plenty of pirate-speak in durrenm's diary here.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Thank you to Jessica and jc and any others who have been tracking down posts by Edwin, who posted as "The OC" once upon a time at Blog for America.

...I come back to this community again and again and draw strength from the wisdom and compassion i see constantly expressed here. I post my curmudgeonly posts in my attempt to make a contribution to this community, but mostly I am weeping as I post them. I am weeping now.

I do believe the continuing conversation on this blog makes an enormous difference. Something happens as we begin to understand first each other, and then the political world we've been thrown into a little better.

We came here because we united behind a candidate who exhorted we the people to "take our country back". When the initial goal of that candidate was not achieved many thought we would fade into the woodwork - well, we haven't faded, we are still here, still fighting, and most important still FEELING.

We the people must trust our own individual consciences to know what is right, and "We The People " will prevail.

Posted by: The O. C. at May 21, 2004 02:35 AM---I support Howard Dean for President primarily because I TRUST that as an intelligent person trained as a physician he will - (quoting from Susan Jacoby's NYTimes op-ed piece in which she quotes Abraham Lincoln) - "....study the plain, physical facts of the case, ascertain what is possible, and learn what appears to be wise and right."

Some years ago Bobby Kennedy was criticized from the right and the left as being DIVISIVE, an Opportunist, having no ENTITLEMENT to be president, he responded by campaigning across the country learning from the divided and warring nation he observed, and pounding the simple theme, "As Americans we can do better than this!"

I think this is a similiar time and Howard Dean is a similiar candidate.We are living in a nation sickened by deceit, favors for special interests, the MENDACITY of both those in power and the candidates seeking to replace them.It seems to me the Doctor should stick to this simple theme,"The nation is sick, we need to find the cure because, we the people can do better than this."

I was wondering what would be appropriate to post at this time, and remembered Agatha mentioning lighting candles on Edwin's Buddhist shrine. If I had a picture of it, maybe I could post that. I searched for some Buddhist prayers and found this.

Buddha taught that all life is impermanent and that all those who are born must eventually pass from this life. However, everyone has within them the seeds of their past virtues, which have the power to bring a fortunate rebirth in the future.

We pray that through the power of this virtue, through the blessings of the holy beings, and through the force of our heartfelt prayers, our dear friend, Edwin, will experience great good fortune and everlasting peace and happiness.

We also pray for the bereaved relatives and friends, that they may be comforted in their loss and find peace of mind and strength of heart.

May all beings without exception be released from suffering, and find true happiness and everlasting peace.

Happy birthday to you, Puddle, from everybody here and everywhere (and that includes Rudy and Stevie who, as you can see, are patiently waiting for you and Edwin on Ave. C)!Our thoughts and hearts are with you, all the way to Texas!We love you, more than ever.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

The talk by Rob Boston on the separation of church and state was a good one, but I'll have to write something about it when I'm a little better rested. He talked about our secular state that was laid out by the framers of the Constitution, and how the notion of a secular state repeatedly vilified these days--one notable example was in recent comments by Kathryn Harris.

Anyway, speaking of the Constitution, I was not aware until I happened across something online that today is Constitution Day...

Most Americans know that July 4th is our nation's birthday. Far fewer Americans know that September 17th is the birthday of our government, the date in 1787 on which delegates to the Philadelphia Convention completed and signed the U.S. Constitution.

The ideas on which America was founded--commitments to the rule of law, limited government and the ideals of liberty, equality and justice--are embodied in the Constitution, the oldest written constitution of any nation on Earth. Constitution Day is intended to celebrate not only the birthday of our government, but the ideas that make us Americans.

Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia accomplished a long-standing goal, passing a law designating September 17th as Constitution Day. Schools and federal agencies are required to hold educational programs on the Constitution on Constitution Day.

Since Constitution Day falls on a Sunday, I think those programs are taking place on the 18th this year.

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

Sometimes you just want to say, "Fughetaboudit!" Ever feel like Sisyphus, toiling away at a task that will never actually accomplish anything? Ever feel like you were absolutely wasting your time? Ever want to holler and throw up both your hands? Nothing will get you to that point quicker than for people to receive your best efforts with a collective, "Yeah, whatever."

I know many ministers who faithfully fulfill their mandate to preach the Word every Sunday, many of whose followers greet their words with, "Yeah, whatever." I know how frustrating it is to work and prepare all week just to be greeted by the faithful with an unambiguous ambivalence. It is just as frustrating for those of us who write to those who at-best merely tolerate our presence. Tolerate, as in, "Well, I'll put up with this for the sake of being polite, but I really wouldn't complain if I never had to endure this crap again." How much more frustrating is it for those of us who present our writing to those who would much rather read about puppies or petunias or even poltergeists or The Pirates of Penzance than put up with a particular preacher pontificating about poignant points pertaining to the priority of Jesus Christ.

Tolerance.

I know the frustration of many a blogger who has poured themselves into post after post after post just to look at their comments and find nothing but chirping crickets. I know people who have written exceedingly insightful opinions and yet nobody responded or acknowledged their insights. I know people who have poured their very souls into post after post after post without anyone feeling or even acknowledging their pain. I know people who have stood firm for that which is right without receiving so much as an at-a-boy or a pat on the back or any other affirmation. I know the frustration, so what should we do when nobody seems to be listening? What should we do when nobody seems to care if we even exist? What should we do when everyone within earshot of us seems to collectively say, "Yeah, whatever!"

I liken it to conversing with a Republican about the futility of Bush's Misadventure In Mesopotamia. No matter how rational the argument, no matter how emotionally compelling the presentation, they - like a tree planted by the river - they shall not be moved. No matter how many pie charts you show them or how many bar graphs you present to them, no matter what kind of statistical analysis you come up with or what historical argument you present, they simply don't like Democrats and they won't trust liberals and so they will support their Commander In Chief no matter what you say or do. It's often like trying to converse with Bobby Boucher over on BBB - no matter how reasonably you present your case he will find some way to ridicule you if your thoughts don't completely line up with his personal preferences.

Some folk are just stuck on stupid.

Be that as it may, we who are called by the name of Christ are called to preach the Word, in season and out of season. When folk applaud us we are to preach the Word. When folk would rather we just shut up about all this Jesus stuff we are to preach the Word. When folk need a word of encouragement we are to preach the Word. When folk need to be told about themselves we are to preach the Word. When folk need to be informed we are to Preach the Word. When folk aren't trying to hear a thing that we have to say we are to preach the Word. In all things - in season and out of season - we are to preach the Word. Not just "preachers" who stand before the congregation every Sunday, but everyone who is called by the name of Christ - every Christian - we are to preach the Word, for in our every word, thought and deed we are indeed preaching, testifying about Jesus Christ. What are we testifying? What are we preaching? That Jesus is a right-wing Republican who cares nothing about economic sinfulness, about preying upon the poor and downtrodden? That Jesus votes Democratic and cares nothing about social sinfulness, misdirected sexuality and cracked-out covetousness masquerading as marketing campaigns? Are we preaching that Jesus is essentially nonexistent through our lives that do not reflect His nature and our words that do not mention His existence? What do we preach in our lives and in our every conversation?

We need to preach the Word because the time will come - and is clearly already here - when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths, making stuff up to make themselves feel comfortable. It is for such a time as this that all Christians are called to preach the Word.

Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.

I know: "Yeah, whatever."

It's preaching season.

May the LORD bless you and keep you;May the LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you;And may the LORD,Who wants you to hide His Word in your heart,May He turn His face toward you and give you peace.